Life with identical twins

Last year I tried to build on things the girls already liked for their presents. It was a good strategy, but overall, Christmas got out of hand. The girls got too many presents, and with a house on the smaller side we just don’t have room for that.

For Christmas this year they are getting three presents from Santa, one from me. I also told my parents they were limited to only three presents. Limiting it like that really made me think about what they would enjoy, and what they would really play with. They are very into imaginary play now, so they’re getting dolls and dress up clothes. I also got them puzzles, because I think they’re a little burned out on the puzzles we have. They are each getting a new Leapster game, and new tag reader books.

Last year I got them a bunch of junk for stocking stuffers. This year, I was really thoughtful about everything. No junky dollar toys, no DVD’s, and minimal candy.

This morning I’m going to go through our toy bins and purge. Some will go to goodwill, and some will be sold at the spring sale. I’m hoping to really weed out the junk, so that everything we have is good and played with frequently. After Christmas, we organize the arts and crafts supplies!

I bought them this toy, so I can’t really complain. To be fair, I have fond, fond memories of the Sit & Spins of my childhood, which is why I got one for the girls. Have you ever tried to do it as an adult? It’s hard! I remember spinning *really* fast as a kid. I’ve tried it a few times and I can’t get going fast at all.

The girls *love* their Sit & Spin. Love it. They love the music, and they love to use it as a stool. But tonight, Caden actually got on in it and made herself spin! It’s the first time I’ve seen either of them do that! I was very excited.

The new Sit & Spins play music. Annoying music. Luckily, there’s an off switch, which I use regularly. But guess what? Little eyes were watching.

Victory!

When you sit on it like this, you just have to bounce when the music stops and it starts playing right away. So convenient.

The girls love to hang out with me in the kitchen. Sometimes they’re sweet and sit on the stools and I yammer on about what I’m cooking. Other times they pull at my pants leg and beg to be picked up and I direct them back to the living room. So it’s fun to watch them at their own kitchen, to see how they play with it. Even though most of these pictures are Delaney, I would say they play with it equally. Although I think Caden is a bigger fan of the fake food than Laney is.

My house is a 1950’s rambler. We mostly live on the main floor. That’s where the living room, kitchen, dining, bathroom, and bedrooms are. It’s chaotic, but good. When I need to change their diaper, it’s 10 steps into their room. I can take a quick shower and get ready while they are still within sight playing with their toys. It also means that their toys are in the living room, which is the first room you walk into when you come in the front door. I remember being ecstatic when we could get rid of the swings and bouncy seats. I got my living room back! And then came all of the toys.

After Christmas, things needed to be organized. I had one big basket of toys and to play with them, they had to pull everything out. It wasn’t working. I bought a cube organizer at Target and that now houses most of the upstairs toys.

The cabinet moved over to where a lamp used to be, and the kitchen moved in next to it. I bought some new lamps at Ikea which are perfect. Nice and small, but lots of light. It’s working out well. There is plenty of room for both girls to be at the kitchen/cabinet, but they can still sit down at their table.

Here’s a view of the entire room. I feel like there is one too many toys, but what can go? Everything is too big to go downstairs, and I’d rather have them upstairs where they’ll get played with more often anyway. Please let our next house have bigger bedrooms so the toys can go there instead!!

I thought for sure I was going to have to call over my neighbor to help me put this together, but I got it done in under an hour! Even the stickers. The girls love it. They went in and out of the door 50 times already. I’m hoping we’ll get years of enjoyment out of it.

We don’t have a ton of toys. Partly because I am hesitant to have them take over my house anymore than they already do, and partly because the girls don’t play with the ones they have. They are more apt to explore, or use the tv remote as a telephone, than to dig through the toy box.

But, I sold the climber I had purchased earlier in the summer, and without the replacement play thing that I purchased, we realized we needed more outdoor toys. My thing was – what to buy? They’re 16 months old. They have a ride on car on the deck that they rarely use. They have a wheelbarrow, they have a water table. They play with none of it. Instead, they try to sneak through the fence to get into the neighbor’s yard.